


maybe we found love right where we are

by asdfghjkalice



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: M/M, Songfic, inspired by thinking out loud by ed sheeran, this is probably just going to be pedrazar fluff tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-15
Packaged: 2018-03-17 14:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3532565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asdfghjkalice/pseuds/asdfghjkalice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Did he have a crush on Balthazar? Yes he did, he was sure of that now, but how cliché is it to be in love with your best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> basically every time I hear thinking out loud I think of pedrazar and I die slightly so I thought I'd write this fic (plus i felt like I owed you some pedrazar fluff after what i did in my previous fic)

It was late on a Thursday evening and Pedro found himself sprawled out on Balthazar's bedroom floor, his tattered schools edition copy of 'The Great Gatsby' lying open in front of him.

“Ugh” he groaned “Remind me why we have to do this stupid assignment again?”

“It's kind of for our end of term grade” Balthazar replied, strumming at his guitar.

“How can you think about playing guitar at a time like this” Pedro groaned “This paper is due tomorrow and so far, I have written one page.”

“Playing helps me concentrate” Balthazar answered, “And besides, I'm basically done anyway”

“What!” He exclaimed, louder than he had anticipated, “How is that even possible dude?”

“Maybe if our fearless student leader did less complaining and more writing, he would be finished as well” Balthazar smirked, fiddling with the machine heads in order to tune his guitar.

“Fair enough”

“For a student leader you sure do complain about school a lot” Balthazar mused.

“I'm not going to be student leader forever you know”

“Pedro, What does that have to do with anything?”

Pedro began toying with the sleeve of his shirt, he'd thought a lot about his future recently, more than he usually would. He'd turned eighteen last week which officially made him an adult with real responsibilities, not just the fake ones thrust upon him as student leader of Messina High.

“I don't know man, I mean now I'm student leader, captain of the football team, all round great guy or whatever other nickname everyone has for me but I won't be that forever. When we leave Messina at the end of this year none of that matters anymore. I just become Pedro Donaldson, average guy and that scares me a little. What if people won't like me anymore and I just fade away.”

“You think people only like you because your popular?”

“I don't know, maybe?”

“Pedro, you're popular because people like you, not the other way round”

“What about you?” Pedro said all to quickly “Would you still like me if I wasn't the all round great guy that everyone thinks I am?”

“Pedro, if you think I'm only your friend because you're popular you are being ridiculous!” Balthazar sighed “I like you in spite of it. Do you hear how ridiculous you're being? Next you're going to tell me that you're only my friend because of my music”

“Well actually...” Pedro started before a pillow hit him square in the face. Balthazar was laughing to himself from his bed where he was perched on his knees. “Ouch, I'm kidding I'm kidding. You're amazing and your music is just a small part of that. If you were somehow to completely destroy your arms and weren't able to play anymore I'd still be your friend. As much as having you serenade me every now and then is very much enjoyable, I could definitely live without it.”

“The same goes for you, If you were to accidentally manage to break both of your legs so you couldn't play football anymore I would probably still be your friend too”

“You really are the best Balth, you know that right?” Pedro said, looking to his friend.

Balthazar just smiled and nodded yet Pedro knew exactly what he meant. 

“Get back to work” Balthazar said the smile still on his face as he scribbled down the final points to his essay. Pedro definitely had a lot of work to do, so he knuckled down and began to write. Talking about his problems had cleared his head and he found it much easier to focus and he was finished within the hour. Every now and then he would look up to check on Balthazar, he knew he was there, he could hear the sound of his fingers plucking the strings yet somehow it gave him a strange sense of peace to know that he was there. He could have sworn he'd even seen him staring at him sometimes. Somehow every time Pedro hung out with Balthazar he was happier than he was when he was anywhere else. Balthazar radiated sunshine and it was almost impossible to feel sad when you were in his company. 

Did he have a crush on Balthazar? It was possible. It wasn't the first time he'd had feelings for a guy. He was pretty convinced he was straight for most of his life until he'd met Ben. Ben was the first guy that Pedro had ever liked but he had abolished that feeling himself almost as soon as it arrived out of fear. There had been other guys, but there had been girls too. He wasn't gay but he was almost certain that he was Bisexual. Did he have a crush on Balthazar? Yes he did, he was sure of that now, but how cliché is it to be in love with your best friend?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *trigger warning for slight homophobia*

Falling in love with Pedro had been a gradual process. It wasn’t like he wasn’t attracted to Pedro at first because he was. In fact Pedro was the very reason that Balthazar knew he was gay. They were seated next to each other in English class in year nine, back when they had first started at Messina. Pedro had objected to it at first, protesting that he wanted to sit with his friends but their teacher was adamant on her seating plan. Pedro was a thinker, he always liked to think things through and plan them out before he executed anything but Balthazar was much more of a creative spirit. That had been their teacher’s reasons for putting them together anyway, she said that they would reflect well off each other and it would help them to produce better work. She had been right as well. Both boys had truly excelled in the subject which was why they were still taking it together now where they still sat side by side in the same seats that they had been in for the past four years.

He wasn’t sure when exactly in year nine it was when he realised that he really, really liked Pedro, at least he knew it was before he had written a song about it. God forbid anyone would ever hear his songs from back then, they were pretty woeful. Just comparing ‘I really, really like your face’ to ‘An Ode’ really made him think, his music style had definitely progressed and he was becoming a much more accomplished musician but the topic of the song had stayed very much the same.

Once Pedro had finally come to terms with the fact that he had lost the battle with his English teacher, he actually started talking to Balthazar. It wasn’t just limited to English either, in fact Balthazar found himself talking to Pedro more and more. They hung out at each other’s houses playing Xbox and working on homework together. Hanging out with Pedro became a regular thing and Pedro soon invited him to come and eat lunch with him and his friends, most of whom Balthazar had seen in class but had never really spoken too. Every time Pedro smiled, it made Balthazar’s heart flutter a little inside. That was definitely the turning point for Balthazar coming to terms with his sexuality.

When Balthazar came out mid-way through year nine he realised who his friends really were. The boys from the football team all began to pick on him. They’d often shove him in the corridors and call him names and shout insults at him whenever they saw him in the distance. Pedro didn’t. Pedro didn’t, but he also didn’t know that the others did. Balthazar stopped eating lunch with them, he couldn’t sit with the people that tormented him and made his life at school a living hell, but he missed eating lunch with Pedro. Instead Balthazar gravitated towards a girl called Ursula who he knew from maths class. He had spotted her sitting alone under a tree and had gone to join her.

“You’re Balthazar, right?” She said as he sat down next to her on the grass.

He nodded; the blades tickled his ankles as he adjusted himself and crossed his legs.

“I really respect you for doing what you did” she smiled at him “I wish I was that brave”

Becoming friends with Ursula took his mind off Pedro for a while, that was until they had English together, which was every day.

“Why didn’t you sit with us at lunch?” Pedro asked as soon as he had sat down next to Balthazar. He didn’t want to tell Pedro the reason why, He didn’t want Pedro to stop being friends with all of his friends because of what they had done to him, all he really wanted was for all the teasing to stop. But he was most worried that by telling the truth, that he would lose Pedro as a friend.

“I just didn’t feel like I fit in,” he said finally, “Ursula and I have more in common that’s all”

“So I haven’t done anything to offend you?” Pedro queried.

“No Pedro” Balthazar reassured him, “You haven’t done anything”

English was the last class on that particular day and Pedro and Balthazar walked side by side out of class, when they were approached in the corridor by none other than Pedro’s football friends.

“Fag” one of them whispered as they sauntered passed.

“What did he just say?” Pedro said rhetorically, clearly hearing what his friend had just said.

“Nothing” Balthazar responded “It’s fine”

“No it’s not fine,” Pedro yelled causing the group to spin around and see what the kerfuffle was all about. “Did you hear what he just said?”

“Pedro chill dude” one of his friends replied.

“I will not ‘chill dude’” Pedro retaliated “Nobody speaks to Balthazar like that”

All that Balthazar could remember after that moment was Pedro grabbing him by the hand and marching him out of the school. He placed his hand on his shoulders, smiled and told him that everything was going to be alright. Pedro’s smile was permanently engraved in Balthazar’s brain and for the few days following the incident he could still feel his hand ghosting his shoulder. He was in love with Pedro Donaldson and every day that passed that love grew stronger and stronger. This was no longer a petty crush; he was in this for the long run.


	3. Chapter 3

“Balthazar. Do you want to go outside with me?”

Pedro’s words echoed around Balthazar’s mind causing hid heart to race as they made their way hand in hand down the Duke’s staircase and out to their lawn. Pedro had practically dragged him out of the room. Beatrice had tried to stop them on their way down but Pedro had marched straight passed her obviously in a rush to get somewhere. Things had been pretty tense lately given all that had happened but Balthazar was just glad that everything was getting back to normal. Pedro found a spot on the grass and sat down patting the ground next to him, beckoning Balthazar to join him. Balthazar looked towards the sky. There were thousands of stars glittering in the dark abyss, encrusting the vast space with crystals and it looked as if the whole sky was smiling down on them.

“I like you” Pedro said after a while of silence, “I like you a lot”

“That’s good because I like you too”

“I don’t deserve to have you like me” Pedro said “You deserve so much better than me. I’ve done so many shitty things this year, who’s to say that I won’t do them again?”

“You don’t get to choose what I deserve” Balthazar said “And just because you’ve done some shitty things doesn’t make you a shitty person.”

Pedro smiled and bumped his shoulder playfully against Balthazar’s. It hadn’t been a romantic action yet it still sent shivers all the way through his body. All he wanted to do right now was kiss Pedro, was that too much to ask?

“Pedro?” he said softly. Pedro turned towards him and made a small mumble in response. Balthazar leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss against Pedro’s lips. He’d thought about kissing Pedro a lot, That’s the thing about crushing on someone for four years, it gives you time to plan out all the different scenarios in your head but when the moment finally comes you still aren’t ready for it because it exceeds all the expectations you’d been building up. The next thing Balthazar knew was that Pedro was kissing him back and he could feel his fingers entangling in his hair. He reached around and grabbed hold of Pedro’s t-shirt pulling him in closer. Balthazar pulled away and left Pedro beaming down at him. It was the same smile that he remembered from year nine, the smile that had first made him fall for Pedro but this time it was much less friendly, it was so much more than that.

They lay down on the grass and gazed up at the countless stars that were still lacing the sky, Pedro pointing out all the constellations that he knew. Balthazar was pretty sure that he had made most of them up but he kept quiet, not wanting to ruin the moment. His head was lying on Pedro’s chest and he could feel the heart beat pounding beneath him. Pedro pressed a kiss to the top of his head and he tilted his head to gaze up at him.

“Balth?” Pedro said quietly “I think I love you”

That was the last thing that Balthazar had expected to hear tonight especially since they were still in the wake of their first kiss but the sincerity that Pedro had said the words were enough to convince Balthazar that he was actually telling the truth.

“I love you too” he said bringing his head up to meet Pedro’s lips one more time. He thought it strange that some people had to travel the world to find themselves and to find love, but it wasn’t like that.  Here he was lying with the one person that he’d always loved in his friends’ garden on a spring night. He didn’t need to traverse the globe they really had found love exactly where they are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really overworked the 'kiss me under the light of a thousand stars' line oops.   
> This was fun to write and thank you to everyone who left kudos, I really appreciate it :)


End file.
